


Garcia's Unofficial Team Bonding Weekend

by hufflepuffism (septasonicxx)



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Chess, Family, Found Family, Gen, Movie Night, Penelope Garcia is a master manipulator, Poker, Reid cooks, Siblings, Spencer Reid has a lot of sugar, Team as Family, The BAU Team as Family (Criminal Minds), The Lord of the Rings References, team as siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29523582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/septasonicxx/pseuds/hufflepuffism
Summary: It turns out that Reid has never seen the cinematic masterpiece that is "The Lord of the Rings". Garcia finds out and is appalled, making it her mission to rectify this. She organises a movie weekend for the entire team, ensuring no one can wriggle out of it.What follows is basically just a whole lot of fun under one roof - Rossi's, of course."How did she rope you into this?" Morgan asked."Penelope is a blackmailer," Rossi said simply, causing Morgan to grin and shake his head.
Relationships: Penelope Garcia/Derek Morgan (hinted)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is all about our favourite team being one big happy family.
> 
> You see, I started writing a fic about Reid's Dilaudid problem, but then I watched more Criminal Minds and was slapped in the face with more Reid angst (season8). This caused me to lose all motivation for that fic because I didn't want to be sad anymore.
> 
> Since I needed something else to focus on, I thought up a new fic idea!
> 
> It is my pleasure to welcome you to a happy fluffy family fic where nothing goes wrong except they tease each other like siblings. I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!!
> 
> (Also it was originally going to be a one-shot AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

"You've _never_ seen the Lord of the Rings?" Emily asked, eyebrows raised in surprise as she and the young doctor walked together towards the conference room.

"No, I mean-" Reid hesitated, gesticulating with one hand and biting his lip as he searched for the words. "It's fantasy. You know, I just … I prefer sci-fi. Something that could actually conceivably happen."

"You think Star Trek could happen?" she asked with an amused grin.

"Actually, you'd be surprised! Star Trek was way ahead of its time and some of the most common items of technology we have today were first imagined on the show. Take the iPad for instance-" Reid paused briefly to lift a hand in greeting to Garcia, who had just walked up from behind them. "-on the show they had what was called a PADD, or Personal Access Display Device. This had a touchscreen just like the iPads we have today, which weren't invented until more than a decade later."

"Oh no," Garcia said with a pitying smile. "You asked him about Star Trek?"

"No," Emily said quickly. "Well, kind of. But it started with the Lord of the Rings."

"Oh!" Garcia exclaimed. "Best series _ever_."

"Reid's never seen it."

"What!?" Garcia grabbed Reid's arm, coming to a complete stop and staring at him in horror. "Never?"

"It's not really my interest," he said apologetically, eyebrows drawn together.

"But you've read it, right?" Garcia asked. "You've read every book, right?"

Reid shook his head and bit his lip again, glancing over at Emily for help. She was grinning wide, clearly enjoying the scene playing out before her.

"Oh, Sugar," Garcia said sadly as Reid began moving towards the conference room once more. "You are missing out. The Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest film series of all time!"

"I'm well aware of its successes," Reid commented as they entered the conference room. "Did you know it was the first ever fantasy film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture?"

The other members of their team were already seated at the round table, waiting for Garcia to approach the front of the room and begin talking them through it.

"What film won Best Picture?" Morgan asked, looking up at them.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," Reid said, pulling his bag strap over his head as he sat down and depositing the bag on the floor.

Making her way to the front of the room, Garcia passed by Morgan and hissed, "Reid has never seen them! He knows facts, but he's never seen them!"

"You've never seen the Lord of the Rings?" Morgan asked in disbelief.

"Why is that so surprising?" Reid asked defensively. He brushed some hair back from his forehead and looked around the table, noticing everyone watching him with varying degrees of concern. "They're just movies."

Garcia gasped as if she'd just been shot, putting a hand to her chest.

"That's it," she said firmly. "We're having a movie night and I am making you watch the Lord of the Rings."

"Extended Edition?" JJ asked with a grin.

"Yes! Yes, the Extended Edition." Garcia pointed at Reid with a finger and added, "And don't even think about trying to get out of this, my love. I will rearrange every single agent's work schedule if I have to in order for us to do this."

"Garcia," Hotch said wearily, rubbing his forehead.

"Yes, Bossman?"

"We're here to talk about a case?"

"Absolutely, and we will. But first I need to hear my Boy Genius say out loud that he will consent to watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy with me."

"What?" Reid looked around the room for someone to help him. "I'm not... Come on! The total running time of all three films, if you're going with the Extended Edition, is eleven hours twenty-three minutes and fifty-nine seconds! And that's only if you run them consecutively with no breaks. That's not a movie night, that's a movie marathon-"

"Are you for real?" Morgan interrupted, eyebrows raised. "You haven't seen them but you know how long they are, down to the second?"

Reid shrugged helplessly.

"Reid," Hotch said.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Please tell Garcia yes so that we can move on."

Mouth open in indignation, Reid stared at his boss. From the front of the room, Garcia beamed.

"Can you let me know when this is happening so I can join in?" JJ asked. "I haven't watched those movies in years."

"Yes! Oh! Oh!" Garcia bounced on the spot excitedly. "We should all watch them together! It could be a team bonding night! Or weekend, since Reid pointed out they aren't exactly short. What do you say?"

"Oh no," Morgan said, leaning back in his chair. "You're not sticking me in a room with Reid for eleven hours."

"It'll be fun!" Garcia whined. "I'll make lots of popcorn, Rossi could cook us dinner and-"

"What? Who said I was coming?" Rossi asked.

"The likelihood of finding a time when we're all free is extremely low," Hotch pointed out. "It would probably be best if you kept it to the three of you."

"I'm so sorry, I can't hear you over the plans whizzing through my brain," Garcia said with a giggle. Hotch glared at her and she swallowed nervously, quickly turning to the screen and picking up the remote. "Okay so there's been four murders in Virginia..."

* * *

No one was entirely sure how she'd done it. But two weeks later, their entire team found themselves with a whole weekend free and Garcia was grinning like a schoolgirl.

"Listen up!" she announced as she entered the bullpen where everyone was gathered after their last case, in various stages of packing up. She held some files in her hands as she approached them, eyes sparkling. "Before you all get too caught up in _leaving_ , I would like to present you with tomorrow's itinerary."

"Itinerary?" Reid asked, eyes lighting up. He reached out eagerly to take the file she handed him. "What's happening tomorrow?"

"Baby Girl, you didn't," Morgan said with a groan as he was handed a file as well.

"Here's the deal," Garcia said as she finished passing out the files. "Thanks to the extremely generous David Rossi, we will all be meeting at his place tomorrow morning for breakfast. He has assured me there will be pancakes."

"How did she rope you into this?" Morgan asked.

"Penelope is a blackmailer," Rossi said simply, causing Morgan to grin and shake his head.

"Ahem!" Garcia said loudly. "As I was saying-"

"This is fantastic!" Reid exclaimed suddenly, eyes flitting over the pages in his hands. "You allocated time for reading, too. And chess! But why does it say 'lessons' next to it?" He looked up at her with a slight frown and added, "You know I've been playing my whole life, right?"

Garcia was staring at Reid affectionately as she explained, "It means you'll be teaching all of us. I figured since I'm making you do something you're not interested in, we should also have something you _are_ interested in."

Reid's face lit up like it was Christmas.

"Those lessons are optional, right?" Morgan asked quickly.

"No, Handsome, they are not," Garcia replied with a cold smile. "Now, the official 'Movie Night' doesn't start until eight p.m. as indicated by your itineraries, but I expect all of you to be at breakfast. Chess Lessons are compulsory, but the rest of the day until dinner is free time for you to do whatever you want."

"Hey Rossi, you have a pool, don't you?" Emily piped up.

"I do," he said with a sigh.

Emily nudged JJ with a smile, who nodded excitedly.

"Also, Hotch?" Garcia said with a sickly sweet smile, turning to the man who had just pulled his phone out of his pocket. "You can put that away. I've spoken to Haley and she's agreed to take Jack to go visit her parents, so you won't be able to use her as an excuse to get out of our Team Bonding Weekend."

Hotch glared at her in disbelief. Before he could reprimand her for meddling in his personal life, however, she turned to Morgan.

"Same goes for you. Your mother and sisters have assured me they're going to be _extremely_ busy this weekend and won't have any time to hang out with you. Just, you know, if you were to ask them."

"Oh, you are in so much trouble, Doll Face," Morgan said, trying to keep the impressed grin off his face and failing. "But what if I told you I had a project this weekend?"

"Considering the fact that I've been tracking your properties? I'd say you're lying," Garcia said with an innocent shrug.

"Oh, she got you!" Emily said gleefully, causing Morgan to playfully shove her.

"How did this woman end up with so much power?" Rossi asked sincerely, looking around at the rest of the team.

"Oh, and Reid?" Garcia turned to the young genius and he looked up from the itinerary to focus on her. "Your mom says hi."

"You spoke to my mom?" he asked with a surprised smile.

"I did," Garcia confirmed. "And I assured her that you would be surrounded by friends the entire weekend. She actually says, 'hi, I love you, and have fun'."

Reid was still beaming when Garcia bade them all farewell. The rest of the team finished packing their things and then filed out of the building together, Rossi and Hotch bringing up the rear and talking about the problems of a woman like Penelope Garcia being in charge of their computer systems.

"See you tomorrow, Spence," JJ said as they stepped outside. "Go easy when teaching me chess, okay?"

"I will," Reid replied, still smiling.

"And make sure you get a good sleep tonight!" Emily called over her shoulder from where she was a further ten steps ahead already. "We'll probably be up all night tomorrow!"


	2. Chapter 2

The following morning, Reid was up bright and early to pack a small suitcase for the Movie Weekend. He made sure he had enough clothes and books before hurriedly shoving in his toiletries at the last minute when he remembered them.

He had already looked up directions to Rossi's house the previous night, so he didn't falter as he headed out to his Volvo and started driving.

Judging from the lack of other cars parked out the front of Rossi's mansion and the fact that it was 7:55AM, Reid assumed he was the first to arrive. Hefting his suitcase and trying not to fall over, he made his way up to the front door and rang the bell.

"Benvenuto!" Rossi said when he opened the door. He was wearing an apron that had some specks of flour on it. "You're just in time to help me."

"Help you with what?" Reid asked, following him in and putting his suitcase down against a wall.

Rossi led him through to the kitchen where there was a large bowl of pancake batter sitting on the bench, surrounded by ingredients and measuring cups.

"Am I the first one here?" Reid asked as he began rolling up his sleeves.

"You are," Rossi confirmed. "You know how to cook pancakes, right? I've done the hard part already."

"Sure," Reid said, moving over to turn on the hot plate beneath a frying pan which had already been set out.

"Excellent." Rossi took off his apron and hung it over the back of a chair. "Don't burn anything. I'll be back in a minute."

Reid opened his mouth to ask where he was going, but when he turned around the older man had already disappeared.

Confused and slightly daunted to be left alone in Rossi's massive kitchen, Reid turned back to the bowl of batter and waited for the fry pan to get hot enough.

Rossi returned as Reid was setting a third pancake on a plate and starting on a fourth. The older man was carrying a few large books in his arms and now brought them over to show Reid.

"Alright, Genius," he said. "I expect you to have read all three of these before you leave. There will be a test."

He set the books at the back of the bench.

"Before I leave?" Reid asked with a raised eyebrow. "I can have them finished in ten minutes."

As the doorbell sounded again, Rossi pointed to the fry pan and said, "Focus. Pancakes." Then he set off to answer the door, leaving behind a young man with a wide grin on his face.

Emily, JJ and Garcia had arrived together. JJ and Garcia both had large suitcases that they were wheeling behind them, while Emily appeared to have brought her go-bag.

"Welcome, ladies," Rossi greeted them upon opening the door, waving an arm for them to come inside.

"Oh man," Emily said with a blissful expression. "I can smell the pancakes already."

They entered the house and set their suitcases near Reid's before coming through to the kitchen. Walking straight over, Emily bumped her hip against Reid in a hello and plucked a pancake off the pile he was making, beginning to eat it plain.

"No, don't do that!" Rossi complained immediately, staring at her in horror. She looked back at him in confusion, and he said, "Maple Syrup? Cream? Strawberries?"

"I'm too hungry to wait for any of that!" Emily said around her mouthful.

Rossi sighed in relief when the doorbell rang again and he was able to extricate himself from the situation.

"How did you end up in the kitchen?" Emily asked, leaning against the kitchen bench and helping herself to more pancakes.

"He just put me here," Reid replied with a shrug. "I don't mind."

As they spoke, Garcia made herself at home in the kitchen, putting on a pot of coffee and disappearing momentarily before reappearing with a glittery pink travel mug she must have pulled out of her bag.

"These are _really_ good," Emily said, still eating. "Have you ever considered being a chef?"

Reid laughed at the compliment but said, "I didn't mix the batter or anything, Rossi did all that."

"Mm, but you're cooking them to perfection," Emily said, closing her eyes for a brief moment as she savoured a mouthful.

"Well I have made a lot of pancakes in my time," Reid said, looking quite pleased with himself. "I used to make them for my mom and I."

"That's so sweet," Garcia said, now pulling out a stack of plates. "I love picturing Baby Reid doing things."

"What?" Reid asked, glancing over at her with a slightly concerned expression.

"Nothing weird! Just, you know. Baby Reid doing math problems. Baby Reid cooking pancakes. Baby Reid playing chess against adults and winning. It's adorable!"

"I wasn't a baby, I was four," he protested.

"When you first made pancakes?" JJ asked.

Reid considered briefly before saying, "Three and a half. Although those ones turned out really badly. My mom still ate them, though."

Garcia and JJ were still gushing about how adorable young-Spencer must have been when Rossi came back with Hotch and Morgan in tow.

"The gang's all here!" Garcia squealed, putting the plates down on the bench so she could go give Morgan a hug.

"Hey, Baby Girl," he said with a grin, hugging her tightly in return. "I'm starving. Is breakfast ready?"

"You'll have to fight Emily," Reid said as he slid another pancake onto the stack.

"You should have gotten here sooner," Emily said with a teasing smile before stuffing more pancake in her mouth.

"No need to fight!" Garcia said quickly. "Here, everyone take a plate. There'll be plenty for everyone."

Hanging around the island bench, sitting on bar stools or just standing, everyone did as they were told and then began adding the toppings they wanted. Rossi had set out bowls of cream, sugar, maple syrup, and cut up fruit before they arrived, and now went over to the brewed coffee and began pouring it into plain white mugs for each of them – except Garcia, who held out her pink travel mug to be filled instead.

Turning off the stove heat for now, Reid grabbed himself a plate and joined them, adding a generous helping of maple syrup to his pancakes and quite a few heaped spoonfuls of sugar to his coffee.

"All this sugar is gonna kill you one day, kid," Morgan said.

Reid rolled his eyes but otherwise ignored him.

* * *

Once all of the pancake batter had been cooked and everyone had eaten their fill, the team made their way to Rossi's large living room. Reid was carrying the heavy books from the bench in his arms and quickly made a beeline for a comfortable looking armchair. He settled into it, put two books on the small table beside him, and began reading the third.

"He doesn't waste any time, does he?" Emily commented.

"He told me he'd finish them in ten minutes," Rossi said as the rest of them settled comfortably on the remaining sofas. "Someone time him, would you?"

"I'll do it!" Garcia said eagerly, whipping out her phone to turn on a timer.

"Hey Rossi," Morgan said, turning to the man. "You got any good games to play in this place?"

"I don't really do board games," Rossi said slowly. "However I do have some nice sets of cards if you wanted to play poker. Or there's the billiards table in the games room."

"There's an entire room for games?" Garcia whispered to Morgan, who smirked.

"Quick! Let's play poker while Reid's distracted," Emily said with a grin, leaning forward and rubbing her hands together.

Rossi stood up and walked over to a side cupboard from which he took two decks of cards and a bag of poker chips. Passing them to Emily who had her hands outstretched, he then gestured for Hotch to give him a hand with the coffee table so that they could drag it closer to the sofas.

"Okay," Rossi said. "Does everyone know how to play?"

"No," Garcia said with a quick shake of her head.

"How 'bout you sit this one out, Baby Girl?" Morgan suggested, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Just sit here and look pretty."

"Aww." She looked up at him sweetly. " _That_ I can do."

"Get a room, you two," Emily teased as she began dealing the cards.

"We will," Morgan purred with a wink.

"Please keep that to yourselves so I have plausible deniability," Hotch said with a sigh as he picked up his cards.

They began to play after assigning small amounts to the poker chips, from $10 to $50. Morgan whispered game play explanations in Garcia's ear as they went, adding in a few amusing comments on the other players just for her benefit.

"See how JJ's biting her lip?" he stage-whispered, making JJ look up at him with a scowl and purse her lips together. He smirked back at her. "That means she's not sure she's got a chance against us professionals."

"That is not true!" JJ countered.

"No?" he asked. "I don't see you taking any risks."

Before JJ could reply, a beeping sound came from Garcia's phone and she picked it up to look at the screen, tapping something to make the sound stop.

"That's ten minutes," she said, and the group turned as a unit to look towards Reid.

He was still reading, although he was clearly only a few pages away from the end of the book he had in his hands. Without a word, they sat quietly and ignored their game as they waited for him to finish.

Seventeen seconds later, he closed the book and suddenly realised he was being stared at.

"What?" he asked with a frown, then saw the table and what they each held in their hands. His eyebrows shot up. "You guys are playing poker?"

"That took you eleven minutes, kid. Did you get through all three?" Rossi asked, bringing his attention back to the books.

Flushing slightly, Reid set the book he had just finished on top of the other two and nodded.

"To be fair," he said. "The text was smaller than I was expecting, meaning there were actually more words per book than I estimated and that put me off in my calculations when I told you I could finish them in ten minutes. But even with an extra minute added for reading time, you can't say I was off by much."

Lifting his left arm to check his watch, Reid then said, "Actually, I only took ten minutes and thirty seconds."

"He is insufferable," Rossi muttered, turning back to his cards.

"Try versing him at chess," Hotch said.

They went back to their poker game and Reid settled back to watch, content. He had more books in his suitcase that he could read if he wanted – since this time in the itinerary had been allocated for reading – but he was enjoying watching his team members laugh and tease each other.

JJ was the first to fold, making Morgan crow smugly about being right. Next went Hotch, and after a not-so-quiet question from Garcia about the specific cards he was holding, Morgan followed.

"I'm sorry!" Garcia said, burying her head in her hands.

"Don't be," Reid said with a grin. "It was so obvious he was bluffing, anyway."

"Hey, you're not even playing!" Morgan complained.

"You knew he had a bad hand?" Garcia asked, looking over at Reid.

"Sure," he replied with a shrug. "It's the only time that Morgan-"

"Hey hey hey! Keep your mouth shut, Pretty Boy!" Morgan interrupted quickly. "Don't go exposing my tells to everyone!"

"Ohh, tell us!" Emily begged.

Instead of Reid, it was Hotch who spoke up. "He put his chips down too hard," he said, earning a glare from Morgan. "Every time he placed a new bet. He was subconsciously trying to act more sure of himself and ended up overcompensating."

Laughing, Garcia said, "Oh, you must _hate_ playing with profilers!"

"Don't I know it," Morgan grumbled. Garcia pinched his cheek teasingly and he swatted her hand away.

The only two left in the game now were Emily and Rossi, both of whom had impressive poker faces.

"Think you have what it takes, _Dave?_ " Emily asked.

Rossi arched an eyebrow and leaned forward to smoothly push a $50 poker chip into the centre of the table.

"I don't know, Emily," he said calmly. "Do I?"

The whole team was silent, watching in anticipation as Emily studied Rossi's face and body language for any tells.

Then, with the hint of a smile, Emily slid a matching poker chip into the centre of the table and lay her cards face-up before her.

A full house.

The team turned their faces eagerly to Rossi, waiting to see what he would do next. Would his hand beat hers? Emily was looking smug, but Rossi's face was still a blank slate making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

After another few seconds, Rossi flung his cards down onto the table with a curse.

"Yes!" Emily exclaimed, reaching out with both hands to scoop the winner's chips towards her.

"No way," Morgan said, reaching over to Rossi's discarded cards to see what he had. "You're kidding me. All that over a single pair?"

"What can I say?" Rossi asked, raising his hands in a shrug. "It's worked for me before."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm enjoying writing this so much!!
> 
> Please leave me a comment if you're enjoying it too! And feel free to leave suggestions for what you want to see in future chapters!


	3. Chapter 3

After lunch, Morgan suggested that they all head to the games room to play some games. A few voices sounded in agreement and they started standing up when suddenly Reid protested loudly.

"Hey! The itinerary says it's time for chess lessons!" Pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket, he unfolded it and waved it around for the others to see.

"He's right," Garcia said. "You do have a chess set, right, Rossi?"

"It's in the games room," he replied with a nod.

"What about those of us who already know how to play chess?" Hotch asked. "What are we meant to do?

"You could help me teach them," Reid suggested cheerfully.

Noticing the less-than-enthusiastic look on Hotch's face, Garcia spoke up. "Oh, but he might steal your spotlight! No, you should definitely do all the teaching yourself."

Reid looked mollified.

"Okay! Signor Rossi, would you please show us the way to the games room?" Garcia asked.

They all went together, as there were bound to be other things to do in the games room for those who didn't need teaching. Rossi led them to a massive room which had everything you could think of: a dartboard, billiards board, foosball table, Playstation, and more.

They walked through most of the room before reaching a small table with a chess set.

"Here you go," he said, gesturing for Reid to have at it.

Reid eagerly took a seat on one side of the table and then looked up, waiting to see who would sit opposite him.

Garcia shoved Morgan down into the seat before heading off to grab two more chairs.

"Have fun," Emily said to JJ with a smirk as she followed Rossi and Hotch over to the dartboard.

Returning with the chairs, Garcia set them down beside the chess table and she and JJ sat down, ready to learn.

Rubbing his hands together and settling into a rhythm, Reid began explaining the game.

"First, you need to know how all the different pieces are allowed to move..."

* * *

An hour later, Garcia sat back with a surprised exclamation of joy and pointed at the chess board in between her and Morgan.

"Checkmate! Checkmate?" She turned to look at Reid, who was now sitting to the side, making sure she'd gotten it right. "Did I-?"

"Yeah, you've won!" Reid congratulated her with a wide grin.

"I won!" Garcia repeated, beaming across at Morgan.

"I let you win, Baby Girl," Morgan said with a smirk.

"You did not," Reid said immediately. "You have no idea what you're doing."

"You didn't explain it well enough!" Morgan protested, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest defensively. "You kept rattling off things like Bird's Opening, something Countergambit. I mean, come on, how is any of that supposed to be helpful for someone's first introduction to the game?"

"Albin Countergambit," Reid corrected automatically.

"Oh no, Honey," Garcia said, reaching across to put a hand on Morgan's arm. "You were supposed to zone out when he started saying the complicated words."

"Hey!" Reid pouted, pretending to be offended.

"I wanna verse JJ," Morgan said, turning to look at the blonde and wiggle his eyebrows at her.

"JJ was supposed to verse the winner," Reid said with a frown.

"It's fine," Garcia said, vacating her seat so that JJ could switch places with her. "Let Morgan have this."

"Think you're gonna beat me, Derek?" JJ asked, eyebrows raised as she began setting the board again.

"Bring it, Mama," he said with a grin.

"Do you want a quick refresher on some of the better opening moves?" Reid asked JJ, who would be going first as she had the white pieces.

"No, I think I've got it," she said with a smile.

She moved a pawn forward and the game began. Reid watched intently, keeping track of each move and muttering to himself as he saw possible openings. Garcia grabbed his hands after a few minutes because he kept fiddling and half-reaching towards the game board.

After a while, Garcia noticed that the others had returned from their own game and were now watching.

Emily leaned forward and whispered to Garcia, "Ten bucks says JJ wins."

Garcia giggled and Reid, eyes still on the game, said, "Hm? Actually, from the way they're playing I'd say-"

"Stop!" Garcia said, slapping a hand over his mouth.

Reid stilled, caught off guard and unsure of what to do now that he'd been silenced.

The game continued in front of him and he refocused on it, blissfully unaware of the bets being placed behind him. Eventually Garcia's hand slipped off his mouth again, but he still didn't speak. He was watching with furrowed brows as Morgan missed every single opening that JJ gave him.

Ten minutes later, Morgan shifted in his seat and suddenly looked up as a movement caught his eyes.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "That's cheating!"

"What?" Emily said innocently, sliding her hands into her pockets and biting back a smile.

"You were giving her hints!" Morgan said.

"Was she?" Rossi asked, overly surprised.

"I didn't see anything," Hotch said with a blasé shrug.

Morgan shook his head, grinning, and fixed his eyes across the table on JJ. She smiled back at him and shrugged innocently.

"Wait, you were cheating?" Reid asked, looking around in confusion.

"Don't worry about it," Garcia reassured him with a hand on his shoulder. "Just hush so they can concentrate. They are getting close to the end of their game, right?"

"Yes," Reid confirmed with a nod. "Although technically it could still go on for another half hour. But judging from their play styles so far I'd say they're only five moves away from a finish. It looks like JJ's going to win after all! Unless Morgan comes out with a surprise attack in another two- _Why are you hitting me?_ Oh."

Reid fell silent again, doing his best to clamp down on his excitement at watching his friends play chess. He knew from experience that it could be very distracting to hear someone talking while you were trying to figure out your next move.

The next four moves happened exactly as Reid predicted they would and he found himself smiling, pleased with himself for accurately figuring out how Morgan and JJ would react to each other.

As JJ reached a hand out to move her final piece, Morgan let out a groan. He'd just seen the trap he'd walked into and was powerless to stop it as JJ slid her Rook forward and smugly said, "Checkmate."

While Morgan complained good-naturedly about losing another game of chess, Reid heard Emily say, "You just love owing me money, don't you?"

"Well he'd better not complain," Hotch put in. "He's got enough money that he could have tripled the poker bets and still wouldn't have blinked at losing."

"No, you're rich?" Emily asked sarcastically. "Wait, so this is _your_ house? I thought you were the butler!"

"You're very funny," Rossi told her with a scowl.

JJ had gotten up from the chess table and now moved over to give Emily a side hug.

"Thanks for betting on me," she said.

"Oh, any time!" Emily said, squeezing her waist in return. "Thanks for winning me some money!"

"How much are you up to now?" JJ asked.

Emily turned expectantly to Rossi, enjoying the look of exasperation he gave her.

"Three hundred and twenty dollars," he said with a sigh.

"No complaining, remember?" Hotch said.

"Aaron, I'm getting too old for this. Why can't the kids just ask for money like a normal person?" Rossi asked.

"Wait, we can ask for money?" Morgan asked, looking up with a grin from where he was setting up the chess board again. "Papa Rossi, can I have three hundred dollars?"

Smiling over at Morgan fondly, Rossi said, "No, but _thank_ you for giving me the chance to say that."

"You dog," Morgan laughed, shaking his head.

"You want my money?" Rossi asked. "Take a leaf out of Emily's book."

"It's so easy," Emily said cheekily.

"Don't tell anyone," Rossi stage-whispered. "But you're my favourite."

"Aww!"

A few moments later, JJ and Emily decided to go find the pool and have a dip. It was only four o'clock, meaning there was still plenty of time before the movie night officially began. Garcia announced it was time for some afternoon coffee and headed off for the kitchen as Hotch and Rossi also left the room, Rossi mentioning something he wanted to show the other man.

Reid was just considering fetching one of his other books to do some more reading when Morgan tapped the top of the table to get his attention.

"C'mon kid," he said, gesturing at the chair opposite him. "Tell me where I went wrong."

Eyes widening, Reid quickly switched chairs and began talking a mile a minute, demonstrating with the chess pieces the various openings Morgan had missed in his last game with JJ. Morgan settled back in his chair with a faint smile on his face, resigned to only understanding half of everything the doctor was saying.

When Garcia returned a few minutes later with three coffee mugs balanced precariously in her arms, Reid was so caught up in his teaching that he didn't even notice her. He just kept on talking and moving pieces around on the board, even when she put a coffee on the table beside him and said his name.

"Do you think he'd notice if we left?" she whispered to Morgan.

"What was that?" Reid asked, pausing and looking at her suddenly.

Garcia froze like a deer caught in headlights and Morgan burst out laughing.

"What?" Reid asked, looking between them with a frown. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing, Pretty Boy," Morgan said when he'd calmed down enough to speak. "Just drink your coffee."


End file.
